Ten days from now, the team here at the Northwest Progressive Institute will be hosting our annual summer anniversary picnic at Redmond’s Perrigo Park to commemorate NPI’s founding. This year, we’re celebrating our fifteenth anniversary, and we’re delighted to announce that pediatrician Dr. Kim Schrier will be joining us as a featured speaker along with State Senator Patty Kuderer.

The daughter of an elementary school teacher and an aerospace engineer, Dr. Kim Schrier says she thought she’d never leave pediatrics… that is, until the current Republican-controlled Congress came along and tried to take away the healthcare of millions of Americans. Disgusted by Dave Reichert’s refusal to stand up to his party and put his constituents’ health before Donald Trump’s agenda, Dr. Schrier became a candidate for the position Reichert currently holds in Congress.

Currently, there are no women doctors serving in Congress — not even one. Dr. Schrier is determined to change that. We’re looking forward to hearing about her priorities for the 116th Congress if she’s elected on Sunday, August 26th.

We cordially invite all Cascadia Advocate readers to join us for the picnic. As in the past, we are not charging admission to this event, but we do ask if you can make a donation of $25 or more if you can afford to. All proceeds raised from the picnic will support NPI’s essential research and advocacy.

After Washington’s Top Two election is certified next Tuesday, Dr. Kim Schrier will be moving on to the general election along with Republican Dino Rossi. The Washington State Democratic Party has not yet formally endorsed her, but the party is expected to vote to nominate her next month when it meets in Spokane.

At a unity event yesterday in Issaquah, Schrier was enthusiastically endorsed by Washington State Democratic Party Chair Tina Podlodowski and by the two other principal Democratic candidates who also challenged Rossi in the Top Two election: attorney Jason Rittereiser and Dr. Shannon Hader.

The seat being vacated by Reichert is considered the party’s best pickup opportunity within Washington State, but WA-03 and WA-05 are also districts where the party hopes to oust a Republican incumbent this year.

It is worth mentioning that U.S. Representative Jaime Herrera-Beutler (WA-03) — who is a four-term incumbent — actually has a lower percentage of the vote than Dino Rossi does in the 8th, to the astonishment of many national observers (but not progressive activists in southwest Washington).

Meanwhile, over in WA-05, Lisa Brown’s candidacy has really spooked Cathy McMorris Rodgers and the Washington State Republicans. Brown was only a few hundred votes behind on Election Night. McMorris Rodgers has since widened the gap, but Brown is still a threat of the highest order to her reelection chances.

Should Schrier, Brown, and Herrera-Beutler challenger Carolyn Long all win, Washington State would have nine Democratic representatives in the United States House: five women and four men. Republicans would be left with just one federal officeholder from Washington State: Central Washington’s Dan Newhouse.

To win a majority in the United States House this autumn, Democrats will need to capture districts like WA-08 with candidates like Dr. Kim Schrier. We hope you can join us on Sunday, August 26th for a thoughtful discussion about taking our country forward instead of continuing to resurrect bad policies from the past, as Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell have been attempting to do.

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This entry was written by Andrew and posted on August 16th, 2018 at 5:01 PM.

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The Cascadia Advocate is authored by the staff, board, and contributors of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a netroots powered strategy center working to raise America's quality of life through innovative research and imaginative advocacy.